"Did someone order a truckload of dead thrax, with a side of confused Stalkers?"

by: Karatta

Shield Extender

1 second cast time on either yourself or a friendly target of your choosing.

Lasts approximately 1min 30sec, unless deactivated by damage. (Exact time not measured, lower than last patch by about 30 seconds)

Recast time is 2 minutes or so. (Exact time not measured, lower than last patch by about 30 seconds)

Max range to a friendly target is about 12m.

Reduces incoming damage from all sources directed into the "bubble" by the tooltips listed percentage, to all friendlies inside of it.

Will only absorb so much damage before it deactivates, which is determined by the pump level used, by the tooltips listed amount.

Bubble gets larger with higher pump levels, maxing out at about 13m across.

Overall a great skill, don't overlook this one to keep you or your squad mates alive during big fights, and instance fights. Throw it on a target that uses mostly ranged attacks, or will pull the most aggro, and stand under him/her to keep the damage to the team low.

Post 30, this is the skill that will keep you in the fight and away from the medical tent. You might be able to get by with low levels of this skill pre-30, but after that id say a minimum of 3 if you cannot spare the points, and your best bet would be all 5 to survive the much higher difficulty. (Bane no longer fire once per 5 seconds in Valverde, they fire every second, or faster, which greatly increase their DoT)

Last patch, this skill worked pretty well. It still does well, but the 30 seconds shaved off of the duration and recast time really put a damper on things during large fights. It seems to turn off now, just when you need it a bit longer to hold out at a CP assault/defense.The recast time helps though, but mainly it helps dent our wallets a bit more, and causes us to use multiple bars a lot more often post 30.

Hack

1. 1 second cast time on any enemy mechanical or cyborg unit - this includes enemies that are half machine and half living, like machina - aka, cyborgs. (Doesn't effect Linkers)

2. Reuse time is 1 second, and can be spammed easily on multiple targets.

3. Maximum range between you and your target is determined by the pump level, as listed by the tooltip.

4. Maximum duration on the target is listed by the tooltip.

5. Maximum range between your hacked target and any enemies it will attack is listed by the tooltip.

6. The target will become an ally for the duration of the hack - the enemy will not attack you or any friendly targets, and will seek out your enemies and attempt to kill them just like any friendly NPC would.

7. The target of the hack will become immune to hacks for a set period of time, determined by how long it was hacked. I am unsure of how long this period is, but it seems to be about 20 to 25 seconds.

9. Hacking anything that can create copies of itself or others, i.e. reconstructor bots, will NOT make their creations friendly and/or hacked.

Hack is a great skill, that is not so great at lower pumps, but it really shines at higher pump levels! Hack a few predators or a turret that just creeped up on your squad, that was about to give you guys a dirt nap! Turn a stalker/strider/juggernaut into a buddy for a while, to draw attention away from you, or just so you can run past it without dealing with it! Make a shield drone you're own portable reflection dome for a bit, and make all those Thrax outside of the shield pay for assaulting River Base Krimm!

Crab Mines

1. Cast time is 1 second, and will create 1 crab mine on the nearest available space.

2. Recast time is 1 second, and after success of the cast, you will have 0 seconds of recast time left for your next crab mine.

3. Does damage that is correct compared to the tooltip

4. You may lay out 3 crab mines of any pump level at any one time, the tooltip is not correct in that you may have one out of each pump level at once.

5. Will move at approximately 8 m/s to the nearest target that you have attacked, or that has attacked you and has a "threat table" (has some number of aggravation to your player greater than 0, i.e. you have angered the enemy target in some way to cause it to be aware of you and chase you, or to be aware of you and chase you if its current list of higher priority targets are killed).

6. Will detonate once the target is within 1 to 2 meters of the mine.

7. Will sometimes fail to detonate if the target is too close to the mine.

8. Will sometimes chase a target continuously and not detonate if the target is outside of 2 meters.

9. After laying 3 crab mines, laying another one will immediately detonate the first crab mine you placed and do damage to any nearby enemy targets.

10. Will reflect any and all damage back to you if you damage either : Linkers that are charging, enemies outside of a shield drone that the explosion covers part of the shield, any enemies inside of a shield drone if it detonates inside or outside of it, or any enemies that will reflect the damage type you have chosen to use.

11. Crab Mines appear to have 1/3 the armor value that your character has, when compared to grey armor your level.

A very very good skill for Sappers, although for Demolitionists I would not recommend it since there are more AoE skills you can get, unless you needed to do a lot of shock damage with the preparation of 3 crabbies and the rest of their skills. For Engineers it could end up burning energy very quickly, but if you find yourself not using much energy during big fights, don't let it go to waste!

Very good for doing "shock" damage to an area of unsuspecting enemies, like a CP attack that does not know you are a threat yet, and when you are ready, lay down the pain with them!
I would not recommend more than 1 or 2 points into this skill, as most enemies that you will be attempting to kill en-masse, which is what this is intended for, are not immune to physical or fire damage.

Be prepared that you WILL kill yourself if you lay these down and get thrown up against a shield drone, or a group of linkers charging; Dying is apart of the Sappers life cycle, be prepared to press the "OK" button, or better yet, see if there are any other specialists around with tools 3, or a medic.
Easily separable, some Demos will find this is an easier skill to rely on to do damage than the 1.5 second cast Self-Destruct skill. However, it is expensive in terms of ammo!

For Engineers, this is a great skill to even out some of the ways you deal damage to enemies. You WILL see a giant dent in your wallet if you use this, turrets, and bots on a frequent basis. If that is the case, you may want to totally forego weaponry, to keep your costs from ammunition low enough to be manageable post 30. Weapons Grade Micromech is the blood of Engineers, and placing another strain on those reserves is a personal choice, but remember to keep your costs balanced and your credit book out of the red.

Mech Armor

1. Has higher armor regeneration compared to all other armor but Bio Armor.

2. Tooltip is correct in its energy regeneration per pump level granted.

3. Has lower armor than stealth armor, similar armor to motor assist, and higher armor than bio armor.

4. Pump levels will boost the energy gain of friendly targets, as correctly stated by the tooltip

Before the recent patch, I would have said that almost all Sappers would be very well off to just use motor assist armor to quickly deal hit and run damage, and then to repair, to fight with. However, there will be times as a Sapper that you will want to lay down lots and lots of crab mines, and this armor is the only way to keep that type of damage higher, and thus more effective in heavy combat.

This armor really shines when you get between 4 and 5 pumps into it, and you can really notice the fact that you actually do have energy regeneration during combat! Your out of combat energy regen will also be much faster at high pump levels, and for any Demolitionist or Engineer I would go so far as to say this type of armor is NECESSARY to function well in the field.

The armor has great armor regen, and for fighting quick fights against one or three enemies, or doing pop-shots at groups, you can kill and run off without even bothering to use a repair tool. During fights where enemies have long cooldowns for their attacks or abilities, this armor is great because it regens semi-quickly during combat, and can net you very much needed time to continue to do damage, and to not waste precious seconds repairing too often. Overall for Sappers, think about how many abilities you will be using quickly in a short period of time. If you say "it wont come up too much", then id go with the motor assist or hazmat if you were so inclined, instead.

Polarity Gun

1. Confers the correct damage bonus per pump level gained, as written by the tooltip.

2. Starts with only Electrical damage, and around level 23 versions of Ice and Fire damage versions start to appear.

This is a great gun, GREAT gun ; A lot of new players are thrown off by this weapon because it is not like the firearms weaponry, but I will explain why it is great, and not just a credit dumpster of a weapon. This is the ultimate burst fire weapon. When you begin to fire at a target, you will start to do damage to it when pressing and holding the fire button down. The weapon will begin to build up a charge inside the gun, and once you release the fire button on your mouse, the charge will be released to the target you have been attacking.

The "charge" will deal 10 times the damage done to the target already!
The maximum charge time is 2 seconds.

Knowing the above, you should fire the "charge" under these circumstances in almost all cases :

1. The target has been fired at for 2 seconds.

2. The target will die from the "charge" if it successfully hits.

3. The target will die from a released "charge" if you fire but a moment longer at it

Using this method, you should not eat ammo too quickly, and be able to kill targets with ease at high pump levels.

Fear the Kael no more with a Electrical or Ice Polarity Gun! Amaze your friends with a Caretaker-BBQ Finishing Move!

Higher pump levels do much more damage than lower level ones, once you calculate that at pump 5, 40% more of 10x the damage over 2 seconds = 14x more the damage done over 2 seconds with the charge alone! Higher pump levels = less ammo used! And I shouldn't be the first to tell you that the canister ammo never ever stops wanting more credits post 30!

Nothing is better in our arsenal as a Demolitionist for setting off your Controlled Fission attack!

Engineers will find this useful to kill enemies that are particularly difficult, and too difficult for their turrets to take down without their concentrated fire.